1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating apparatus used for an automatic transmission of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there is provided an operating apparatus for an automatic transmission of a vehicle (which is generally referred to as a shift lever apparatus) in which a shift lever mounted on a floor of the vehicle is shifted to each of a plurality of automatic shift ranges. In recent years, other than the above described operating apparatus, there has been provided an operating apparatus for an automatic transmission in which each of the gear ratios or transmission stages can be selected manually (i.e., an operating apparatus for an automatic transmission which is provided with a manual shift mode).
In the above-described type of operating apparatus, the shift lever can be shifted along a guide slot which is referred to as a H-type shift pattern, the automatic shift mode can be switched to the manual shift mode by inclining or pivoting the shift lever which has been shifted to "D" shift range of the automatic shift ranges in a transverse direction of a vehicle. As described above, when the automatic shift mode has been switched to the manual shift mode, each gear ratio can be selected optionally by the shift lever shifted toward a front or rear side of the vehicle.
However, as described above, a conventional operating apparatus, in which the switching can be effected between the automatic shift mode and the manual shift mode, is structured such that all of the operations are effected by the shift lever mounted on a floor of a vehicle. For this reason, there exist drawbacks in that, in a vehicle running state in which a driver is handling a steering wheel, the above shift operations especially in shifting the shift lever between the automatic shift mode and the manual shift mode and/or shifting the shift lever between gear ratios in the manual mode have been complicated and inconvenient. Accordingly, it has been desired to further improve operability in an operating apparatus for an automatic transmission provided with such a manual shift or operation mode.